The Buy Better Food: Campaign for sustainable food on the public plate (also known as Buy Better Food Campaign or BBF) is a European advocacy campaign which focuses on public food procurement as main driver of food system transformation towards a sustainable, healthy and fair food system in the European Union, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy.

The Buy Better Food Campaign is led and implemented by the members of the Buy Better Food Coalition. The organisations involved in the Coalition share the commitment to improve and achieve human, societal and environmental health by transforming the EU’s agro-food system. The Coalition will gain strength and confidence from the contribution of all the participating organisations and individuals who have experience of influencing public procurement at the local through to the supranational level. This campaign is focused on describing, boosting and amplyinging local dynamics to catalyse the attention of  European policy makers in Brussels on the potential of public procurement.

The campaign seeks to incorporate a diversity of socio-economic perspectives, either through the Coalition members or through the examples and expertise championed through the campaign. Procurement will transform commensurate with how it represents the diversity of perspective, background and affiliation in Europe.

Vision

By 2030 Europe’s food system is healthy for both people and the planet, based on sustainable farms, on healthy land, providing healthy food for all.

Goal

Public procurement is a vehicle for significant change of the EU’s food systems, in line with its commitments under the UN SDGs. By 2024 this will be reflected by the European Commission with a proposal for buy-better for the health of the planet, societies and children, which will include mandatory criteria and a clear pathway for achieving them.

Objectives

1. The European Commission commits to setting minimum EU-wide food procurement requirements which benefit planetary health (which includes human health) and are fair and inclusive to farmers, communities and future generations.
2. The Commission proposes:
   • A 2030 target for the public procurement of 20 – 50 percent organic, high quality and sustainable food for public canteens, schools and kindergartens;
   • Climate friendly and sustainable diets (more plant-rich, with ‘less and better’ meat and only demonstrably sustainable fish).
3. By 2030 the EU encourages and enables education about food systems and healthy diets to be included in children’s curricula.

Management team

The management team of the campaign includes the Core Team, the main decision making body of the BBF Campaign, and the Campaign Coordinator. The Core Team is currently comprised of 9 organisations: European Public Health Alliance – EPHA, European regional office of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements – IFOAM Organics Europe, Fondazione Ecosistemi, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (Europe), Mensa Cívica (Spain), Meine Landwirtschaft (Germany), Red de Municipios por la Agroecología – RMAe (Spain), Skutečně zdravá škola, z.s. (Czech Republic), Sustain – The Alliance for Better Food and Farming (UK).
The Coordinator is Giorgia Dalla Libera Marchiori, working at ICLEI Europe.

Website: Buybetterfood.eu
Contact: Sabina Nicolella,  Ilda Hidri, Thais Palermo
Area: Pianificazione territoriale e Sviluppo locale
Keywords:  Sustainable food systems, Sustainable food, GPP, Farm2Fork, SDGs